Can former UO coordinator Jeff Tedford bear this down season?

It was 11 years ago, and during Jeff Tedford’s introductory news conference as the head coach at California, that he expressed his relief that he wouldn’t have to play Oregon, his former employer, in his first season with the Bears.

He might wish he didn’t this year, either, with the Ducks chasing a berth in the national title game, and Tedford’s team enduring a 3-7 season.

Well, there is this: Saturday night’s game in Berkeley could well be Tedford’s last game against Oregon, with the growing speculation that Cal will replace him.

It’s become an open topic of discussion on the Internet and even in the more-traditional media that the main question at Cal is who succeeds the 51-year-old Tedford, not whether he’ll be out after this season. It’s grim and growing grimmer for Tedford and the Bears.

The post-game questions for Tedford now include whether he’s “lost” his team?

“No way … emphatically, no way,” he responded.

Or he’s asked whether he’s talked about his job status with Sandy Barbour, the California director of athletics.

“Not at all,” he said. “I guess there’s enough written in the blogs and the (newspapers) and everybody keeping track of that outside, but we haven’t (talked).

“I would expect that after the season, we’ll probably talk about everything.”

That’s not far off, with the Bears finishing the season on Nov. 17 at Oregon State. And then?

It becomes quite the quandary for Cal. Can the Bears fire Tedford, and pay him off the nearly $7 million he’s owed for a contract that runs through the 2015 season? Or do they gamble on one more year, knowing the effect bringing Tedford back might have on attendance, and donor giving, which is now more crucial than ever after Cal undertook a modernization of facilities that cost about $475 million, with half of it borrowed money.